Product Description

EN BLANCO 18 nsARQUITECTES
M. Àngels Negre y Félix Solaguren-Beascoa

There are careers that could be related to a certain pragmatic eclecticism. The works generated seem to address problems in various ways –as experimental fields-, as if they attempted to be faithful to a discipline in which the roots of many traditions can be recognized, in a way that each of the works would look upon one of them. There are others, on the contrary, engaged in shaping the features of an authorship. This determination/resolution often leads to different kinds of formalism in which, eventually, the important thing is the precise definition of the features of this searched identity rather than the will to solve problems. Finally, there are those trying to dive into a specific tradition –a cultural tradition, perhaps because they understand that it is in this tradition where the most enriching aspects of the discipline can be found, or perhaps because of a process of intellectual identification, in the sense of recognizing that similar problems are shared with other architectures beyond distance. It is not about formal affinities. It is neither about pretended nostalgic processes of local identification. It is rather about reflections in which the attempt to unravel the most profound keys of architecture would prevail. Evidently, they believe in the need of the discipline and avoid explicitly the spurious identification with other fields.
I would dare to state that the work of nsarquitectes, the work of Maria Àngels Negre and Félix Solaguren-Beascoa, belongs to this third section.
Indeed, stopping to look upon their work highlights the presence of a number of references through which the authors seem to build their own area in which to function.
After analyzing it, it is not difficult to detect similarities throughout their work; to recognize the systematic presence of repeated elements; both related to constructive issues and to core aspects such as the organization of each building or the way they are presented on the site. It is not difficult, either, to find some echoes of the Nordic tradition –it is evidently not by chance that Felix Solaguren-Beascoa was an author for so many monographs on Jacobsen–. But I think it is not only this hypothetical and understandable fascination that Jacobsen could exert on nsarquitectes, but also a willingness to recognize a common set of elements within a broader tradition, because I believe that, combined with the attention to Nordic architecture, there is another one in which other formal universes could be recognized.
The works presented in this issue of En Blanco are part of a journey of almost fifteen years. And I suggest noticing some issues through them.
In Maria Ossó school in Sitges, completed in 2004, there is an explicit reference to the Utzon’s Lutheran Church in Bagsværd. The way it is presented in the territory, the linear arrangement of its elements, the quality of the side facades and the way they form the unity of the whole are the topics taken up in Sitges almost verbatim. Thus they propose a starting point so that, from an imported logic, the rules of order in the new building are clearly established; rules that are clearly adequate for a school. However, the project in Sitges shows a southern appearance which is not coincidental, which is not present at Utzon’s work and whose matrix stems -to my understanding- from the role of the successive patios both in their layout and their materiality. The long perimeter corridors covered with a longitudinal skylight in the building designed by the Danish architect are replaced by a “porch” that surfaces from time to time. In collaboration with the transverse blocks, it defines a series of patios which seem to evoke some idea of domesticity despite their size, like a succession of “impluviums” that ultimately provide a “Mediterranean” character to the building. It is true that the succession of buildings and patios also brings to mind Jacobsen’s schools (Munkegård). But it maybe because of the bigger presence of those or because of the exaltation of light and shadow promoted by the porches, the fact is that we must recognize that Southern character to which I was referring.

nsARQUITECTES: mirando al norte…y al sur nsARQUITECTES: Looking North And South …
Juan Carlos Arnuncio

ESCUELA MARIA OSSÓ EN SITGES, BARCELONA. ESPAÑA
MARIA OSSÓ SCHOOL. SITGES. BARCELONA.SPAIN

CENTRO DE DISMINUIDOS FISICOS DE LLEIDA. ESPAÑA
CENTER FOR THE PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED IN LLEIDA.SPAIN

EDIFICIO DE VIVIENDAS EN LA CALLE DE LA SELVA. BARCELONA. ESPAÑA
APARTMENT BUILDING CALLE DE LA SELVA, BARCELONA.SPAIN

PARQUE DE BOMBEROS EN BANYOLES. GERONA. ESPAÑA
FIRE STATION IN BANYOLES. GERONA.SPAIN

PARQUE DE BOMBEROS EN BADALONA, BARCELONA. ESPAÑA
FIRE STATION IN BADALONA. BARCELONA.SPAIN

Puente de San Jorge de Alcoy (1925-28): la forma técnica como forma arquitectonica
Bridge of San Jorge of Alcoy (1925-1928): the technical form as an architectural
form Andrés Caballero Lobera

El hormigón como superficie en el espacio
Concrete as a Surface in Space
David Carrasco Rouco

Erik Christian Sørensen y el museo de naves vikingas en Roskilde
Erik Christian Sørensen and the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde
Jaime J. Ferrer Forés

98 Resistencia y empatía. Poética del hormigón en la Roiba
Resistance and empathy. The poetics of concrete in la Roiba
Joan Ramon Cornellana Díaz

EN BLANCO 18 nsARQUITECTES
Published by General de Ediciones de Arquitectura, Valencia, 2015
ISSN: 1888-5616
tccuadernos.com